January 26, 2011
PRINTED 1578: MAGNIFICENT AND VERY RARE 16th CENTURY ITALIAN EMBLEM BOOK
WITH TITIAN’S FAMOUS DEVICE OF A BEAR LICKING HER CUBS
SIXTY-FOUR (64) beautiful and enigmatic emblematic plates
PITTONI, BATTISTA (1520-1583) and LODOVICO DOLCE (1508-1659.) Imprese nobili et ingeniose di diversi Principi et d’ altre personaggi illustri nell’ arme et nelle lettere : con le diciarationi in versi Venetia, 1578. 4to., 27 cm., wide margined and handsome copy. 18th century Italian boards and vellum., 122 p. : ill engraved title, engraved dedication & 64 emblematic plates, 2 plates with crude early repairs touching emblems with loss, 1 plate with hairline tear with no loss in emblem, some toning throughout as usual, spotting, and minor staining. The work includes a depiction of Titian’s famous device of a bear licking her cubs (see photos below). Fine impressions of the plates. COMPLETE AND VERY RARE. [SOLD]
These are the emblems and devices used by historical and distinguished personages in the sixteenth century, within rich ornamental borders ; all probably engraved by Girolamo Porro (c. 1520 – after 1604), the highly regarded Italian engraver. Lines of verse by Dolce are engraved at foot of each. [Ref: 1. French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese books of devices and emblems, 1534-1827: a bibliography, by John Landwehr, Utrecht, Haentjens Dekker & Gumbert, 1976; 2. Rosand, David . “Titian and the Critical Tradition,” in Titian: His World and His Legacy, ed. pg. 16, 36; note 16; 3. Quaritch, B. A catalogue of fifteen hundred books remarkable for the beauty or the age…, 1889, item 1225]
